2 Strokes Down Under

I picked up this .........


For the right money I thought.......

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Rickman-Mont ... true&rt=nc



'Why?' I hear you ask.

'I've got no defence except weak character and defect of mind' I reply.

But of course I wanted to try a Rickman and to see what all the fuss was/is about. They were renowned for lightweight and handling (they normal go hand in hand). And I have other bits on hand to add to make a pretty complete bike. And the price was right.

THE PLAN....

....is not to go absolutely OEM or pristine. Indeed at first I want a goer and as much as possible I'll keep the patina. Plan A is to fit period correct Yammy 34mm forks and front wheel, and a Yammy IT175 rear wheel.

With a quick inspection I'm guessing the front end swap is not going to be straight forward, the head stock appears short and I think the Yammy head stem on the triples will have to be shortened.

The Yammy IT175 rear wheel might be a bit easier. The Yammy axle is 15mm and the Rickman axle slot is 14-14.5mm. I would like keep it a conical hub as per OEM (and the Yammy IT175 rear wheel is not quite period correct) so if anyone has a period correct conical hub and backing plate with a 15mm axle..........

Something like a Husky hub..............



With the monty came this seat. It is not Rickman Monty but a Rickman Metesse Micro enduro - with a Zundapp 2T motor probably. I'll swap it for Rickman parts or sell it if someone has 'the need'.



WANTED.

I'm particularly looking for the rear tail such as....



And a Rickman low front guard and LH side covers (high or low pipe).



Parts, help, advise, leads or sympathy would be appreciated.

Excellent project! I think Rickman still do a lot of frame parts for these which might help?

Impressively unusualproject

i like it. looks like the stock pipe would be reasoable easy to reproduce.

JonW wrote:Excellent project! I think Rickman still do a lot of frame parts for these which might help?

It seems most of the parts still been made are for the triumph Metisse which are similar in style but not direct fit or replacements.

But I'm on one of those learning curves that make resto's so ionteresting.

gman wrote:i like it. looks like the stock pipe would be reasoable easy to reproduce.

I haven't got the pipe or carb and I haven't got a side cover, and the air box is a packet of misfitting poo tickets.

Sooooooo, I might go for a down pipe and pod filter. And I have a spare black wrinkle cut motor.......

Sooooooo, I might go.........



But everything is up in the air at the mo. I just have to find out whats 'out there' and what I can get to fit. ( head stem and rear axle are not as straight forward as I hoped.)

What a bargain Ozzy! Deal of the year.

A single down tube Rickman frame? I'd never noticed them before.

The Yamaha hubs and wheels should be an ok substitute until you track down the correct Rickman hubs and shouldered rims etc I'm thinkin that could take a while....

Rickmans would have used an English supplier for their triple clamps? Is that head stem the same size on the Metisse frame?

ged wrote:What a bargain Ozzy! Deal of the year.

A single down tube Rickman frame? I'd never noticed them before.

The Yamaha hubs and wheels should be an ok substitute until you track down the correct Rickman hubs and shouldered rims etc I'm thinkin that could take a while....

Rickmans would have used an English supplier for their triple clamps? Is that head stem the same size on the Metisse frame?

A bargain ya reckon - I've guesstimated $2000 done on the cheap.

It looks like the Yamaha triples will fit with very little issue but the rear wheel is proving to be a pain. I could squeeze in the Yammy hub but the chain run to the centre of the wheel seems to be about 40mm out - very strange. I'll keep fiddling that but I won't be able to establish the centre line until I have the front wheel fitted - it might resolve itself.

The OEM front brake backing plate was marked with the Rickmans stylized 'R' but my gut feeling is that f & r were proprietary hubs from one of the small time manufacturers supplying the motorcycle cottage industry - there were several small time manufactures making there own frame and bolting Zundapp, Sachs or Villiers engines. If that is the case it might be easier than you suspect.

Not that I'm going to stress. This bike will never be OEM. The nickle plated frame is too far gone to ever be re-nickel plated. And if I can't do that I ain't gonna be too worry about seeking odd ball shit.

And beside, Yammy brakes/wheels were the best of the period for strength, weight and braking performance.

I've got a nickel plated Ducati SSD frame salted away awaiting it's turn. Similar condition to yours. The only reason I've ever heard for doing it is weight saving?

I'd be interested to see the weight of the bare frame now (once you've stripped it out) compared to when it's been repainted.

You might find your alignment problem related to rim offset? When I relaced the Beeza wheels I didn't know the correct rim offsets.... The front was zero but I had to (eventually) relace the rear wheel shifting the rim 1/2" sideways to get the correct alignment.

Motard guys pulls wheels over all the time as often its hard to get a chain run on a 5.0 wheel in a MX frame.

The things you find out as you become familiar with your bike (resto's will do that )......



........the engine is offset about 20mm to the left. If it wasn't offset I would be having less of an issue .

Easy fix with a grinder and some steel sheet?

JonW wrote:Easy fix with a grinder and some steel sheet?

Vandal

Yer, barbarian! ;-)

ged wrote: A single down tube Rickman frame? I'd never noticed them before.

My knowledge of Rickman offroad frames is scant and unreliable but I think there were essentially three classes of frames; the micro, middleweights and the Metisse.

These frames left the Rickman's factory as kit bikes and later both as complete bikes and kits. And to compound and confuse Rickman spotting they have become one of the most popular frames for backyard frakenbikes MX and Enduro bikes - probably because the frame loop was designed intending to fit a wide range of engine and a reputation for well made light weight good handling.

The Rickman single down tube Montesa was completely separate and substantially different in fact and intent. I think everything from waist up interchanges (with other mid weights but not micro or Metisse) fbut, other than suspension and wheels, nothing below.

To the best of my knowledge the Montesas left as complete bikes only and were an attempt to become more of a series (and serious) manufacturer. Rickman first tried with Bultaco but the experiment fell through and Bultaco went on to produce the Purstang (which I've been told was a Rickman knock/rip off.)



It looks like Rickman made a variation with a Yamaha DT1 engine. I believe 30 left as complete bikes and 11 as kits (small numbers). It looks a very close relative to the Bully (same pipe??).



I'm not sure of the status of this one. It could be a Rickman prototype or a backyard special - the wheels are different. What is of interest to me is that it is a Yammy back wheel stuffed in there. How they did that on the standard Rickman swing arm I would like to know.



If you look closely the bottom of the frame of the up pipe and down pipe Rickman Montys are different - I may not be able to easily fit a down pipe as I alluded.